Associating files with product

[Beejal Kamdar-2]

Hi,

I am trying to associate various files with a product to allow users
to upload artworks and download proofs which are posted by site
administrators.

It looks like I may be able to serve the purpose with DataResource,
Content and ProductContent.  I would appreciate if someone has already
gone through similar requirement and guide me.

Thanks & Regards,
Beejal

[Ruth Hoffman-2]

Hi Beejal:
Do you plan to make these files/products part of one or more product
catalogs?

If so, then you can use the Catalog Manager to add product information
about each file and keep track much of the file's attributes that way.
If you only have a few files, then learning how to use the Catalog
Manager (and perhaps customizing) to do this may not be worth your effort.

To answer your question specifically:

To associate a file(s) with (meta data) about that file you can do
several things - depending on how maintainable you want your application
to be. What I have done, and how I make content available to my web
visitors and customers, is use:  

    DataResource records to point to either the file location of a file
    (the objectInfo field) or to an ElectronicText record if the content
    is in the database (like XML/HTML).

    DataResourceMetaData to hold information specific to my applications
    such as the copyright date or the author's name. (I've created a few
    unique metaDataPredicates to suite my needs.)

    Content and ContentAssoc records to point to any data resources that
    I want to make available on the website as a download or even as
    content to articles or a blog. These records associate my
    DataResources with website publishing actions.

    I also wrote my own UI to support/manage all this in one place. That
    is, I found it very cumbersome to go back and forth between the
    Catalog Manager and the Content Manager etc. to perform the very
    simple user operations necessary to support my environment.

There are other things that go on here, but at a high level, that is how
I do it. I'm sure others may do it differently, so anyone who'd like to
comment, please chime in.

Regards,
Ruth
----------------------------------------------------
Find me on the web at http://www.myofbiz.com or Google keyword "myofbiz"
[hidden email]

Beejal Kamdar wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I am trying to associate various files with a product to allow users
> to upload artworks and download proofs which are posted by site
> administrators.
>
> It looks like I may be able to serve the purpose with DataResource,
> Content and ProductContent.  I would appreciate if someone has already
> gone through similar requirement and guide me.
>
> Thanks & Regards,
> Beejal
>
>  

[Chris Snow-3]

Hi Ruth,

Would you be happy to share your code?  I too find the content
management component very cumbersome for simply adding content!

Cheers,

Chris

Ruth Hoffman wrote:

> Hi Beejal:
> Do you plan to make these files/products part of one or more product
> catalogs?
>
> If so, then you can use the Catalog Manager to add product information
> about each file and keep track much of the file's attributes that way.
> If you only have a few files, then learning how to use the Catalog
> Manager (and perhaps customizing) to do this may not be worth your
> effort.
>
> To answer your question specifically:
>
> To associate a file(s) with (meta data) about that file you can do
> several things - depending on how maintainable you want your
> application to be. What I have done, and how I make content available
> to my web visitors and customers, is use:  
>    DataResource records to point to either the file location of a file
>    (the objectInfo field) or to an ElectronicText record if the content
>    is in the database (like XML/HTML).
>
>    DataResourceMetaData to hold information specific to my applications
>    such as the copyright date or the author's name. (I've created a few
>    unique metaDataPredicates to suite my needs.)
>
>    Content and ContentAssoc records to point to any data resources that
>    I want to make available on the website as a download or even as
>    content to articles or a blog. These records associate my
>    DataResources with website publishing actions.
>
>    I also wrote my own UI to support/manage all this in one place. That
>    is, I found it very cumbersome to go back and forth between the
>    Catalog Manager and the Content Manager etc. to perform the very
>    simple user operations necessary to support my environment.
>
> There are other things that go on here, but at a high level, that is
> how I do it. I'm sure others may do it differently, so anyone who'd
> like to comment, please chime in.
>
> Regards,
> Ruth
> ----------------------------------------------------
> Find me on the web at http://www.myofbiz.com or Google keyword "myofbiz"
> [hidden email]
>
> Beejal Kamdar wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I am trying to associate various files with a product to allow users
>> to upload artworks and download proofs which are posted by site
>> administrators.
>>
>> It looks like I may be able to serve the purpose with DataResource,
>> Content and ProductContent.  I would appreciate if someone has already
>> gone through similar requirement and guide me.
>>
>> Thanks & Regards,
>> Beejal
>>
>>  

--
Chris Snow - CEng MBCS CITP MBA (Tech Mgmt) (Open) CISSP

Tel: [phone]
Mob: [phone]
Www: www.snowconsulting.co.uk

[Ruth Hoffman-2]

Hi Chris:
Yes. I'd be happy to share, but at this point, the code doesn't make
much sense out of context - mainly, because I didn't really write very
much new Java or Beahshell code. The real work is in the UI and getting
the UI to use existing services. Lots of trying to set up controller.xml
files with the proper request mapping and trying to figure out what the
existing services really want for input and output parameters. (I also
had to "change" some services to suite my needs.)

I plan to make most of this available on my website (over the next few
months) in the form of blog entries and also as more detailed PDF
documents (for those who were generous enough to support my efforts ;-)    

I suppose you are anxious to see this, but I'll tell you that the code
is no big deal. The real secret is in putting it all together.

Regards,
Ruth
----------------------------------------------------
Find me on the web at http://www.myofbiz.com or Google keyword "myofbiz"
[hidden email]


Christopher Snow wrote:

> Hi Ruth,
>
> Would you be happy to share your code?  I too find the content
> management component very cumbersome for simply adding content!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Chris
>
> Ruth Hoffman wrote:
>  
>> Hi Beejal:
>> Do you plan to make these files/products part of one or more product
>> catalogs?
>>
>> If so, then you can use the Catalog Manager to add product information
>> about each file and keep track much of the file's attributes that way.
>> If you only have a few files, then learning how to use the Catalog
>> Manager (and perhaps customizing) to do this may not be worth your
>> effort.
>>
>> To answer your question specifically:
>>
>> To associate a file(s) with (meta data) about that file you can do
>> several things - depending on how maintainable you want your
>> application to be. What I have done, and how I make content available
>> to my web visitors and customers, is use:  
>>    DataResource records to point to either the file location of a file
>>    (the objectInfo field) or to an ElectronicText record if the content
>>    is in the database (like XML/HTML).
>>
>>    DataResourceMetaData to hold information specific to my applications
>>    such as the copyright date or the author's name. (I've created a few
>>    unique metaDataPredicates to suite my needs.)
>>
>>    Content and ContentAssoc records to point to any data resources that
>>    I want to make available on the website as a download or even as
>>    content to articles or a blog. These records associate my
>>    DataResources with website publishing actions.
>>
>>    I also wrote my own UI to support/manage all this in one place. That
>>    is, I found it very cumbersome to go back and forth between the
>>    Catalog Manager and the Content Manager etc. to perform the very
>>    simple user operations necessary to support my environment.
>>
>> There are other things that go on here, but at a high level, that is
>> how I do it. I'm sure others may do it differently, so anyone who'd
>> like to comment, please chime in.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Ruth
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> Find me on the web at http://www.myofbiz.com or Google keyword "myofbiz"
>> [hidden email]
>>
>> Beejal Kamdar wrote:
>>    
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I am trying to associate various files with a product to allow users
>>> to upload artworks and download proofs which are posted by site
>>> administrators.
>>>
>>> It looks like I may be able to serve the purpose with DataResource,
>>> Content and ProductContent.  I would appreciate if someone has already
>>> gone through similar requirement and guide me.
>>>
>>> Thanks & Regards,
>>> Beejal
>>>
>>>  
>>>      
>
>
>